Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes remains on track for a February trial date, despite a judge's ruling Tuesday delaying a key deadline.

During a short hearing Tuesday, Judge Carlos Samour allowed doctors at the Colorado Mental Health Institute an extra month and a half to evaluate Holmes' sanity. The new deadline for the evaluation — which is expected to begin soon — is now Sept. 16. Previously, the evaluation was to be finished by July 31.

The superintendent at the hospital asked for the extension, saying Holmes' evaluation would require doctors to read tens of thousands of pages of documents and conduct complicated testing.

"I don't think I have a lot of choice," Samour said Tuesday. "That's how long it's going to take."

But, despite the delay, Samour remained committed to beginning Holmes' trial on Feb. 3, and his subsequent comments show he is already planning for how to conduct what would be one of the most high-profile trials in state history.

Samour said he planned to summon a massive pool of 5,000 prospective jurors for the trial, with the hope that 3,200 will show up to court. He said jurors will be brought in preliminarily on Thursdays and Fridays of consecutive weeks — 800 a day — given an oath and made to fill out a lengthy questionnaire.

It could take weeks more to whittle down to the 12 people who will decide Holmes' fate.

Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges that he killed 12 people and wounded 70 others in an attack on the Century Aurora 16 movie theater last summer. The plea prompted Samour's order for an independent mental-health evaluation.

Neither the prosecution nor the defense objected to the extension for the evaluation, even though it will condense the schedule of pretrial motions and hearings. Weeks-long motion hearings are now scheduled for October and December.

The next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 30, when a debate over whether a Fox News reporter should have to reveal her sources or face jail looks to be resolved.

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.

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